A proposal from a better man
by stevieLUVSAlex
Summary: After Nina tells Andy that she wants to move forward with Jake, Andy realizes that just how much he loves her and fights hard. Will he manage to convince her that he's better for her than Jake? ONE SHOT with a happy ending. )


**A/N: I am SOOOOO in love with this series. I am SOOOOOOOOO in love with Andy&Nina. This is so brilliant, this show, that I could watch it a thousand times and never get bored. This one goes out to any Nina/Andy shipper and everyone who loves a happy ending… the way it SHOULD be. =)**

**Anyways, there's an episode near the end of season four where Nina was talking to Andy about wanting to move forward with Jake. Marriage. Kids… well, that can't happen in my Andy/Nina world so I came up with this! **

"Can you think of a real reason why I shouldn't take the leap?"

He looked her in the eye.

_Yes. God damn it, he's the wrong guy!_ Andy wanted to scream. He wanted to curse. He wanted to shake her and make her understand that she was being insane. That marrying Jake was the biggest mistake she'd ever make because he wasn't good enough for her. Because Jake could never make her as happy as Andy could. No matter how hard he tried. Because Andy loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone, including Julia.

But he didn't say any of those things. It didn't seem fair because she had expressed how happy she was and he couldn't bear to be the one to take it all away.

"I'm not helping you pick out a ring," he stated matter-of-factly.

Inside, he was heartbroken.

Nina leapt from the chair and kissed his cheek, the way she did whenever she was excited. They talked all the time. She shared her relationship with Jake, with Andy, and God it killed him most of the time. It physically made his heart ache because she just didn't see how deeply in love with her he was. And that every time she kissed his cheek or hugged him and he had to inhale her perfect scent, he went home and swallowed in self-pity because Jake had her and he didn't.

Andy had missed the signs. Missed their moment. He was still angry sometimes that she never said anything to him because if she had, maybe he'd be the one thinking about buying a ring and asking her to be his. Forever.

Instead, Nina was the one thinking about all those things with Jake.

And God, how it hurt.

***ANDY&NINA*ANDY&NINA*ANDY&NINA***

He'd stewed about this for 48 hours and he knew that he had to do this now or forever wonder about it. Harold Abbott had once told him that if he wasn't willing to make an ass of himself then he didn't deserve her. He had been right.

So, here was Andy on her doorstep, so sure that this was the right thing to do.

Nina opened the door, her whole face lighting up when she saw who it was.

"Andy," she said. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

Andy Brown had never been one for stalling.

"Don't marry him!"

Nina took a visible step back. "Andy, I-"

"Just hear me out," he pleaded.

Nina was too shocked to speak and so he continued.

"I love you. I am_ in_ love with you, Nina. I have been for a while now and every time you mention your relationship with Jake it's like a knife in my chest. I know that I can make you happy. I know I'm the better man here. You talk to me the way you can't talk to Jake. That means something, Nina. It means that you and I aren't only best friends but we can-"

Nina shook her head. "Stop it. What are you doing?"

"I can't watch you marry him without fighting for you. I can't. You never gave me a chance. You never told me how you felt or-"

"I love Jake," she whispered.

"I know you do. But I'm important too. You fought for our friendship against all odds, against your relationship with Jake because it was important to you. Well, you're important to me and against all odds I'm here, begging you to reconsider because I don't want to wonder years from now if I was too gutless to do anything. I'm not going to kiss you, Nina. I respect you too much to do that and it's not that I don't want to, ever since I… every time I'm near you it's all I want to do. But this is bigger than a kiss. This is forever and I need to know that you won't have any regrets later on, because by then it will be too late."

Nina's chest rose and fell as she stared at him. Andy was aware that he was having an effect on her, he just didn't know how big that effect was.

"If you choose Jake again, if you decide that you will be happy for the rest of your life married to him, then I'll accept that and I'll move on. And regardless, I will _always_ be here for you, Nina. Always. But right now you have to make a choice. Think about it. _Please_. Consider that I might be the better man for you. I'll give you everything you want. Marriage. More children. As many as you want and I will never let you down again. Your needs will always come before my own. I'll be the one to take care of you, instead of you always being the one that takes care of someone else and I will love Sam was my own son. I swear to God, Nina. I love you."

Tears streamed down her face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because this is my last chance," he said simply. "And I don't want to blow it. I have to make an ass of myself to prove just how much I love you."

Nina shook her head. "I need some time to…"

Andy nodded. "Okay. I'll be next door."

***ANDY&NINA*ANDY&NINA*ANDY&NINA***

He was waiting for her when she walked up to her porch. He crossed the kitchen floor and opened the door, smiling at her.

"Hi," he greeted.

Was it a good sign or a bad sign that it had only taken her eighteen minutes to come over?

Without warning, she swiftly moved forward closing the gap between them. She pressed herself against him and he gasped just before she pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back without hesitation. It was Nina who made the move this time. It was Nina who answered his question so clearly and so passionately that it left him a little stunned. Andy was expecting Nina to stew over it for a while first, maybe yell at him for making such a bold move. Again.

When Andy finally drew away, he was grinning. He felt like a kid with a new pony. "I take it that this is a yes?" he asked, smiling down at her.

"I don't know what I'm doing. I just know that I will always wonder if I don't find out now and I can't live with that regret or that what if… anymore. Jake has never put me before everything else. He's a good man but he's not-"

"Me."

Nina shook her head. "No. No one is you, Andy. I just haven't figured out if that's a good thing or not," she laughed.

"Oh, it's a very good thing," he teased, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him. He felt every curve of her body.

"You've always been there for me, Andy, even when it was hard for you. You have a strength in you, Andy that I've never seen in anyone else. I want you to take care of me. I want to take care of _you_. I love you too, more than I can say."

"What about Jake?"

"He's going back to L.A."

Andy nodded. Now that he could certainly live with. "Nina Feeney…?"

"Yes, Andy. I will marry you."

"Good." He grinned. He'd never felt so happy.

***sighs dramatically* I even love Andy in my own FF. He's so Goddamn BEAUTIFUL.**

**Okay… so PLEASE if you read this, review… I know it's not a popular series compared to others, but I wrote it for you. Everyone who is reading it. =)**


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